Manage What You Can Control

SUMMARY

Are you still finding it challenging to get enough done in your week?

Do you look back and go: “Where did all that time go?”

Are you chasing that elusive thing called ‘time management’ or, worse still, ‘work-life balance’?

Well, stick with me because this week, I'm going to help you shift some ideas around that so that you actually do get more done in less time.

“Time management is a myth.”

It's something that we were taught back in the 80s and 90s. It continued into the 2000s and beyond, and it doesn't work.

There are 3 things that you CAN manage, and when you focus on things you can manage, it empowers you. You feel like you're able to get more done. Instead of chasing time, you are looking at outcomes.

The first one is EXPECTATIONS.

The second is your ENVIRONMENT.

The third, and I believe the most important of all three (in fact, the first two have an impact on this third one), is your ENERGY.

Productivity is an important thing. We all need to get things done. In fact, in this busy world that we live in, it sometimes feels like the world wants more and more done in a shorter period.

Instead of managing time, which does not work and is without a doubt outside your control, manage those 3 things. Learn how to manage your expectations, environment, and energy.

TRANSCRIPT

Are you still finding it challenging to get enough done in your week?

Do you look back and go: “Where did all that time go?”

Are you chasing that elusive thing called ‘time management’ or, worse still, ‘work-life balance’?

Well, stick with me because this week, I'm going to help you shift some ideas around that so that you actually do get more done in less time.

Hi, this is Grant Herbert, VUCA Leadership and Sustainable Performance Coach, and today I want to continue our conversation in the area of our Professional Leadership skills by helping you to manage what you can control.

I'm going to say it right off the bat:

“Time management is a myth.”

It's something that we were taught back in the 80s and 90s. It continued into the 2000s and beyond, and it doesn't work.

We can use some skills and strategies to be more productive, but managing time is not something that you and I can do.

Higher beings than us own time.

It's a finite resource.

There are 24 hours in every single day. In fact, I think I heard once that there are 28 hours on Mars, but I'm sure that if we continue to focus on time management, we will still not get enough done (even if we move to Mars). So, time management needs to be unlearned so that we can relearn what will actually help us to get more done.

There are 3 things that you CAN manage, and when you focus on things you can manage, it empowers you. You feel like you're able to get more done. Instead of chasing time, you are looking at outcomes.

So, let me introduce you to these 3 things you can manage.

The first one is EXPECTATIONS.

The second is your ENVIRONMENT.

The third, and I believe the most important of all three (in fact, the first two have an impact on this third one), is your ENERGY.

Having enough energy to be who you need to be in every area of your life will allow you to be more productive and do so without burning out.

Let's have a look at each of these 3. Before we do that, you need to let go of time management. Yes, there are some skills and strategies that you may have learned that can still work in this new framework. However, the mindset of being able to manipulate, manage and control time is not possible.

So, let it go, drop it there, and then come with me on the rest of the journey.

Let's start with managing expectations.

There are two types of expectations we want to talk about here:

The first one is the expectations that you put on yourself.

Once again, it goes back to those identity challenges that you have of who you think you are and who you think you're not. Those three universal fears of not being enough, not belonging and not being liked or loved.

That performance trap, looking for external approval, being a people pleaser, having the imposter syndrome, and all those things will determine the expectations that you put on yourself.

If you're putting on expectations that if you get this amount of stuff done, you’ll fit in and be good enough, then it's coming from a foundation of psychology and of brain-body balance that’s not going to allow you to do that.

The second area of expectations is the expectations from others. Once again, this is something that you need to navigate and manage, and that takes a strong personal power.

It takes assertiveness and a high level of self-worth and self-care to have conversations with people who are setting expectations with you without the fear that they won't like you, that they won't see you as being good enough, that you don't belong.

So, managing expectations in a way that allows you to have the energy that you need to get everything done that you need to be done. Managing those expectations allows you to stick to the priorities and things that will give you the biggest bang for your buck that is closest to what you want to achieve.

Learning how to shift and manage your expectations will definitely help you to be more productive.

The second area for you to manage is your environment. I don't care about how many memes are written that say things like, “An untidy desk is a sign of genius.” No, it's just a sign of overwhelm and of someone who hasn't got their stuff organised.

Having things in the right place and being able to find them when you can is just common sense that's going to allow you to get more done in a shorter period of time.

However, the environment that I want to focus on first is the environment in your mind:

What you're allowing to go in.

What you are ruminating on.

Your self-talk.

That is the environment that you want to work on first. When that's clear— when you've got focus, and you're able to have intentionality at the moment to focus on what it is that you're doing; without those disruptive thought patterns, you are definitely going to get more done.

On top of that, there's your physical environment where you're able to get hold of things when you need them, where you're able to be in an environment that is decluttered.

Sitting in an environment of clutter every day makes you feel like you're not going to be able to get it all done.

Having an environment that has to-do lists that are as long as your arm and never seem to get smaller. Having files on your desk that pile up. An inbox that lets you know that other people's expectations are piling up even more. Those things in your environment mean that you are not going to feel how you need to feel to get things done.

So, it's important to manage your environment.

Your environment also stems from allowing people to encroach on your time.

Whether you've got an open-door policy, a closed-door policy, or whatever policy it is that you have in your workplace, you need to have a culture that values each other's space so you can have a structure that's set up that people contact each other at certain times, et cetera, so you can be more productive.

There are many things that you can do in your environment. Another great thing is to make sure that those things that are important to you, your reason for being and doing, are in view so that they inspire you and remind you of what you're doing.

It could be a trip that you’re taking overseas, or it could be your family. Whatever’s important to you is the only thing that matters.

The third area is managing your energy.

Your energy is a finite resource.

The way you look after and conserve your energy will determine whether or not you get things done.

I know I have, and many people that I've spoken to sometimes feel like they're energetically depleted, and it's early in the morning, and they've still got the whole day. Being starved of that energy means you won't be in your best state to get things done.

So, it’s about managing where you allow that energy to go.

There are things and people that give you energy. They’re also the same people and things that will sometimes take that energy. Then, some things just drain it.

A lot of that has to do with relationships. So, make sure that your emotional intelligence and social intelligence are built so that you can avoid and navigate some of those relationships in a healthier way.

Energy is a finite resource. Therefore, you need to stay on top of it. You need to give it out sparingly.

Here's the thing: It’s not just for your career. It's so that when you finish work, at the end of the day, you've got enough energy to be who you need to be in every area of your life.

During my corporate career, I would expend all my energy on the things that I was doing in my executive role. When I got home, I had no energy left for the people who mattered most. That came out in my behaviour.

I've told this story before when I came home after a long day, and it was late. I drove home, and my phone was going all the way home, and people were sucking more and more energy from me. When I got home, my little baby twins who were about 15 months old, come running towards the door going: “daddy, daddy, daddy!”

And, instead of embracing them (as I really wanted to do), I said: “Can you let me get in the door before you're all over me?”

Their little faces just dropped, and my wife's face said: “Wow, that's not the man that I know.” That is someone else who has allowed their day to take the joy out of what they truly love.

That was a big wake-up call for me to look at how I did put expectations on myself and how I allowed others to put their expectations on me. My environment had to change. I had to protect what was going on in my mind. I also had to make sure that I did things like turn off the phone on the way home, park around the corner for 10 minutes and just allow myself to transition from being the corporate executive to being the husband and father. And how I protected my energy so that I could be who I wanted to be in every area of my life.

Productivity is an important thing. We all need to get things done. In fact, in this busy world that we live in, it sometimes feels like the world wants more and more done in a shorter period.

Instead of managing time, which does not work and is without a doubt outside your control, manage those 3 things. Learn how to manage your expectations, environment, and energy.

Well, that's it from me for another week. Join me again next week as I continue to go through these nine crucial shifts, and we step into the area of People Leadership.

I'll see you then.